With summer quickly approaching, men and women are preparing themselves for the season of swimsuits. Many have packed on a few pounds during the winter months (don’t worry, we are predisposed to do so)… and want to lose that winter weight before taking off our swim cover-ups at the beach this summer.

Fitness blog, Cardio, Weights, and Protein Shakes, has several free ab workouts to choose from and look through. Some of these core workouts have downloads to go with them. For example, our “Quick Ab Workout” has a freebie that will give you illustrations and demonstrations of how to do each exercise correctly. And you can download it straight to your phone to reference while you are working out!

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8. Water keeps us from being dehydrated (which is of the UTMOST IMPORTANCE!!)

These are just a few examples of why water is essential to our bodies. But it all comes down to this: we cannot survive without water. Our bodies will become dehydrated and dehydration can lead to death. Moral of the story: DRINK UP! However, we want to make sure that what we put in our bodies is clean, healthy, digestible, etc. Which is why we don’t drink straight out of a lake. So, we filter our water.

Furthermore, there are companies and organizations that have continued the process of creating healthy, clean water! I am fortunate enough to have been given the opportunity to try Essence pH10 Water, which is a premium alkaline water that has extra, critical nutrients in it. These include: calcium, magnesium, and zinc acetate. So while you are drinking water, you are also giving your body more of what it needs to survive and thrive.

What Is Alkaline Water?

Alkaline water is less acidic than your tap water (higher pH level). Therefore, it has pH-balancing abilities (neutralizes / lowers the acidity in our bodies) while also being very hydrating.

Why You Need To Do Shoulder Exercises

Whether you run, hike, play sports, or lift weights in the gym, your lower body muscles naturally receive more attention and are more frequently worked out compared to your upper body. Therefore, your upper body muscles need some special attention! This muscle group includes your biceps, triceps, back, chest, and shoulders. That being said, the shoulder muscles are often neglected in upper body workout routines over arm workouts, chest workouts, and back workouts.

If you don’t want to dedicate an entire workout to shoulder day, you should absolutely incorporate shoulder exercises, especially the BEST shoulder exercises, into your workout routine. Here’s why.

The Best Shoulder Exercises

1. Front Raise: Stand with your feel shoulder width apart. Your arms will be relaxed by your side, holding light to medium dumbbells in each hand (overhand grip). Starting with your right arm, slowly lift the dumbbell in front of you until your arm is straight out in front of you. Lower the weight steadily back to it’s starting position and repeat with your left arm.

2. Lateral Raise: You will be standing with your feet shoulder width apart, with your arms at your side holding light to medium dumbbells in each hand. Slowly and steadily raise your arms outward (to make a T with your body). Raise them until they are parallel with your shoulders, or slightly past parallel. Bring them slowly back down to your sides in a controlled way. And don’t lock your elbows!

3. Overhead Press: You can be standing or sitting for this exercise. If you choose to stand, I recommend standing in one of two ways. Either stand in a split stance, with one foot in front of the other, or with your feet shoulder width apart. You can also do the overhead press with either a barbell or with dumbbells. You will start with the weight at your upper chest. Your palms will be facing forward; and your elbows will be directly under the weight (and keep them slightly inward towards your body). Push the weight upward and keep it in line with your body – just don’t hit your face! Push it all the way up – but don’t lock your elbows at the top.

4. Rear Delt Fly: The rear delt raise / fly can either sit or stand for this exercise. Either way, bend your torso and chest forward, while keeping your back straight and your abs engaged. Your arms will be hanging down in front of you, holding dumbbells in each hand. Your palms will be facing each other and your elbows will be slightly bent. Raise the dumbbells outward until your arms are parallel to the floor and your shoulders. Make sure to control the movement as you lower the weight to avoid accidents or injury!

5. Crawlout / Inchworm: You will begin in the plank position (on your hands). Slowly walk your hands towards your feet. Once you’ve made it up to your feet, push with your hands to propel yourself so that you can either clap or so that you can tap your shin bones with each hand. Then, start walking your hands back out to the standard plank where you started. You can bend your knees slightly if you are not very flexible like I am!

The five exercises listed above are, hands down, my favorite and the BEST shoulder exercises that you can do. These five shoulder moves target and strengthen each of the muscles within the shoulder. There are plenty of other exercises you can do that will make your shoulders and upper body stronger.

It took me a very long time to do my first pull up. I could have accomplished my goal of lifting my body above that pull up bar in a fraction of that time if I’d had the right training and the right help, like a “Pull Ups for Beginners” guide. Having some guidance and know-how would have saved me a lot of time and frustration. In hopes of helping others learn how to do their first pull up, or increase the number of pull ups they can currently do, I’m sharing the best arm and back exercises I did that made the difference.

Pull Ups for Beginners

If you are ready to learn how to do a pull up and willing to put in the work, then you’re already half way to your goal. Doing a pull up is not about sheer upper body strength. It’s about will, determination, perseverance, and form. Ha, almost anyone could do a pull up if they could have a jumpstart and swing their body into it! But… would they have that overwhelming sense of accomplishment and pride afterwards? No. You want to be able to do a perfect pull up, with pristine pull up form.

Before trying these upper body exercises, refer to the tips found in How To Do A Pull Up to help you reach your goal. These tips, combined with the exercises detailed below, will give you exactly what you need in order to do a pull up. This is not an easy task. But it is well worth the effort you will put in. Not only will you be able to say “I can do a pull up,” you will also have the lean and strong muscles required for it (which is a bragging right all by itself!). Your back will be sexier, your arms will be slimmer, and your confidence will be shining. Reaching a goal like this is so much more than the goal itself.

The Best Upper Body Exercises For Pull-Ups

1. Rows:

Rows are pulling exercises that primarily strengthen your back muscles. There are a ton of ways to perform rows, but they all work your back (and your arm muscles) – so they are PERFECT for helping you increase your upper body strength so you can eventually pull your body weight up!

Bent Over Dumbbell Row: With a dumbbell in one hand, place your opposite knee and hand on a bench to become parallel to the ground. The arm with the dumbbell should be hanging at your side. Bring the weight towards your chest, while keeping your elbow inward and tight to your body.

Inverted Row: Best done with TRX equipment or a Smith machine. With your back towards the ground and your hands on the bar (or TRX grips), pull your chest up.

2. Lat Pulldowns:

Using a cable machine or a lat pulldown machine, sit facing the machine. Grip the bar, lean back slightly (but keep your back straight), and slowly bring the bar down towards your chest. Squeeze your lats together (imagine your back muscles are swallowing up your spine). There are many variations of the lat pulldown, but they’re ALL great! Pulldowns are a tried and true exercise for “Pull Ups for Beginners.”

Reverse Grip Lat Pulldown: This is usually done with a narrow grip (less tension for the elbows). Usually your palms are facing away from you. When performing the reverse grip, your palms should be facing towards you.

Behind The Head Lat Pulldown: Instead of pulling down towards your chest in front of you face, you will sit up straight and pull the bar down behind your head (towards your traps).

3. Assisted Pull Ups:

You will either be performing the pull-up motion with an assisted pull up machine or by using pull up bands. Regardless of the method, the band or the machine will help you lift your body weight. Not every gym or workout space has the full machine; So, I personally recommend investing in a pull up assist band!

4. Pull Up Negatives:

This is the ONE time you have permission to jump into your pull up… only because this is a strength building exercise to work on doing a pull up! Jump (or use a chair) to get your chin above the pull up bar. Then SLOWLY and STEADILY lower your body back down to the hanging position. This exercise should only be down if you have at least some upper body strength to depend on!

Don’t neglect your other muscle groups while you are working on your pull ups. Just because pull-ups primarily utilize your arms, shoulders, and back muscles, you still need to train other areas. For example, your core needs to be strong for pull ups as well! Dedicating some time to cardiovascular exercise as well as strength training for your core, legs, glutes, etc. is needed. This will also give your upper body some time to rest (and rest is REQUIRED for muscle growth!!) and will help strengthen other areas of your body. Additionally, giving your upper body some rest will help prevent injuries, like excessive muscle soreness, sprains, strains, tears, etc. Your physical fitness level will be at a much higher level if you train your entire body.

Another note: always listen to your body and consult your medical doctor if you feel that something might be wrong! It’s always better to be safe than sorry, right?!

Change it Up with The Surge

One of the best ways to keep yourself out of a fitness slump is to try a new workout or training type. I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: You’re less likely to skip a workout if you are excited about doing it! And on the other hand, you are much more likely to get bored if you are doing the same workouts over and over again. Redundancy will inevitably lead to burnout. Don’t get to that point! Try a new workout style, who knows – maybe it’ll be your new go-to workout! Related: How to Get Out of Your Fitness Slump with a Sledgehammer Workout

What is The Surge from Hedstrom Fitness?

Revolutionary. That’s the first word that comes to mind when I think of Hedstrom‘s products. They’ve released the Bosu Ball, the Kamagon, and now the Surge. According to Hedstrom, the “SURGE® is a product that lets you train for everyday life. A product that truly makes you better at everything! SURGE® is “living resistance” that builds an athletic core which can take anything life and sport can dish out through intense and dynamic training.”

The Surge is a long cylinder that you can fill with water. Filling it with water makes it heavier. Theres a nifty, convenient chart on the side that tells you what the Surge will weigh with however much water you put in! It’s basically a barbell at home that you can change the weight on, without having to have a bunch of bulky equipment lying around! Bonus feature: it really challenges your stability because the water moves around inside the Surge.

In case you don’t want to read those bulky paragraphs, let me break it down for you….

1. The Surge is like a barbell.

2. You put water in it to create resistance… The more water you add, the more it weighs!

3. It’s just one piece of equipment… No more bulky gym equipment lying around and creating mess in your home.

4. The water creates a more challenging workout – Hydro Inertia Training! The water moves around inside The Surge and creates an unstable resistance for your workout moves. Every exercise you do is more challenging with these hydro-inertia principles!

5. You can do almost any exercise with the Surge (and the Kamagon ball!) now… anytime, anywhere!

Hydro-Inertia Training Workout

I was sent The Surge from Hedstrom to try out and it is a game changer!! I now have a great way of lifting weights on days that I don’t feel like going to the gym. Try these exercises for a full body workout with your Hedstrom Fitness gear!

Featured Hydro-Inertia Exercises:

Half Burpee: Start in the plank position with your hands in the Surge handles. Jump your feet inward towards your hands. You can either stand up, while keeping your back straight and your chest up, or you can jump your feet back to the start position!

Bent Over Row:Bend forward, keeping your back straight, head in line with your spine, and knees slightly bent, with the weight hanging directly in front of you. Lift The Surge towards your chest and keep your elbows tight in towards your body. Then slowly return to the starting position. You can do these with an overhand grip or an underhand grip!

Tricep Press: Hold the weight above your head. Slowly lower the weight behind your head… but make sure you keep your elbows inward by your ears. Slowly lift the weight back to the starting position. Side Note: It helps to stand with one foot in front of the other so that you don’t strain your lower back!

Bicep Curl: Stand with a split stance (one foot in front of the other), which protects your lower back. Hold the Surge with an underhand grip. Bring the weight up towards your chest, keeping your elbows stationary by your side.

Other Exercises for The Hedstrom Surge:

Chest Press

Deadlift

Shoulder Press

Front Raise

Lunge (and all lunge variations)

Squat (and all squat variations)

Weighted Sit-Ups

V-Ups

Oblique Twists (also known as Russian Twists)

And the list goes on! Check out this video library which has TONS of exercises to do with Hedstrom exercise products!!

You can get the Surge, Kamagon, or other Hedstrom Fitness products at the Hedstrom website, and you can use the code: SPHF25 for the next month for 25% off!

*Disclaimer: This post is a sponspored post. I am thrilled to work with Hedstrom on this campaign! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Quotes have always been a great way to express how you are feeling or what you are thinking when you can’t put them into your own words. These fitness quotes will inspire you and motivate you when words fail. Fitness&nbsp;motivational quotes can also remind you why you started your fitness journey in the first place.

Fitness Quotes

1. “Push harder than yesterday if you want a different tomorrow.”

2. “Find out what happens when you don’t give up.”

3. “What you do every single day matters more than what you do once in awhile.”

4. “Believe in the person you want to become.”

5. “If you want something you’ve never had, you’ll have to do something you’ve never done.”

Workout Motivation

6. “Make muscles, not excuses.”

7. “Great things never come from comfort zones.”

8. “On the good days, workout. On the bad days, workout harder.”

9. “Sweat like a pig, look like a fox.”

10. “Love yourself enough to live a healthy lifestyle.”

Workout Inspiration

11. “It’s not about the weight you lose but the life you gain.”

12. “The only bad workout is the one you didn’t do.”

13. “It comes down to this… How badly do you want it?”

14. “I am obsessed with becoming a woman comfortable in her own skin.”

15. “You have a choice. You can either throw in the towel completely or you can use it to wipe the sweat off your face.”

Exercise Determination

16. “You can’t expect to succeed if you only put in work on the days you feel like it.”

17. “I can and I will.”

18. “I’m not strong for a girl. I’m just strong.”

19. “Make today your someday.”

20. “The pain you feel today will be the strength you feel tomorrow.”

Health Quotes

21. “The workout starts when you want to stop.”

22. “Would you rather be covered in sweat at the gym or covered in clothes at the beach?”

23. “Your body can withstand almost anything… It’s your mind you have to convince.”

24. “Sweat + Sacrifice = Success”

25. “Exercise is a celebration of what your body can do… Not a punishment for what you ate.”

Fitness Motivational Quotes for Healthy Eating:

26. “Stop letting food be the boss of you.”

27. “What you eat in private, you wear in public.”

28. “A healthy outside starts from the inside.”

29. “Eat right, feel amazing.”

30. “Eat less from a box and more from the Earth.”

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Hi! Welcome to Cardio, Weights, & Protein Shakes. I’m a 20-something from Atlanta, GA where I work as a certified school counselor and personal trainer. I have a B.S. in Psychology, a B.A. in Sociology, and a M. Ed. in Professional Counseling from the University of Georgia. I started Cardio, Weights, & Protein Shakes in 2015 to share my journey in fitness, health, and life in general.